Improvement in washing-machines



JOHN KEY.

Improvement in Washing Machines.

No. 125,054. PatentedMarch26,1872.

Wwar sea:

ED STATES PATENT OFFIC.

JOHN KEY, OF UNION CITY, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND WILLIAM J. FIELDS, OF SARATOGA, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN WASHING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 125,054, dated March 26, 1872.

Specification describing Improvements in WashingM-achines, invented by JOHN KEY, of Union city, in the county of Randolph and State of Indiana.

This invention consists in the combination, with a tub or trough having a smooth bottom of inverted arched form, of notched and slit rubbers or washers, pivoted radially to a shaft at the center of the arc of the tub bottom so as to work alternately along it under the clothes to be washed and eiitect their cleansing by turning them over and repeatedly expressing the water from them and allowing them to become saturated again.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a central vertical section of my washing-machine, and Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

A is the tub or trough of the machine. It has fiat sides and an invertedly-arched bottom, which maybe made of zinc or other sheetmetal, or of wood, and has straight ends. At one end a portion, a, is partitioned oft from the main body of the tub to provide for the attachment of a wringer, when desirable. The tub is supported on four legs, the rear pair of which extend above the tub and are provided at their upper ends with bearings, in which a shaft, B, is supported. This shaft is double-cranked, as shown in Fig. 2, each crank being on the opposite side of the shaft to the other, and

having one end of a connectingrod, D, pivoted to it, the other end of said rod being connected with one of the rubbers or washers E E. The shaft has secured to one end a wheel, G, that is provided with a crank, c. The said rubbers or washers are each of a width to fill nearly half thewidth of the tub, and are slit longitudinally and notched or shouldered on their upper sides; they have rigidly secured to them arms I) b, by which they are pivoted to a shaft, F, concentric with the bottom of the tub, and swing close to it.

The shaft is rotated by means of the crank 0, and thereby swings the rubbers or washers E E backward and forward in reverse directions, working-under the clothes and turning them over and over repeatedly and alternately expressing the water from them and allowing them to again absorb it, and thereby efi'ectin g their thorough cleansing.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- The rubbers or washers E E, constructed of strips in direction of their motion and having notches or steps on their upper sides transverse to such motion, for operation in combination with the smooth concave bottom of the tub A, in the manner set forth.

JOHN KEY.

Witnesses WM. P. DE BOLT, L. E. M'AssLroK, A. MASSLICK. 

